#Everytime she assists him with a play Adrien stares at them in confusion

[ninadove]

Kagami in Lies:

"Oh my God Adrien, stop being silly. You’re embarrassing me, even though there’s no one around to see us. This is not you. This is not the version of you I was conditioned to want. Stop it right now."

Feligami in Representation:

"My queen. If we’re going to tell my second greatest enemy about the entire plot. Can I at least make it into a play? A silly little play with masks and everything?"

"Of course love. I can even sketch the costumes and paint the props if you want."

"Marry me"

[cocoarosalia]

Rocking The Cradle Chapter 15: Truce

She was so pretty dressed up like that. Big, fluffy dress. Shoes glittering with rhinestones. A crown that hung on her head crookedly from being one size too big…

She looked as she always did

Like mama’s precious little princess

But...why couldn’t she reached her?

Everytime she got close her hand would start to burn

“Mama…” she called out

She tried again and again but it was like touching iron fresh out of the flame

The realization made her stomach twist

Her princess was locked up in some golden cage like a pet canary

Her voice rang out frantically this time “Mama, I need you! Please, I don’t want to be with her!”

She gripped the bars with all her might but the heat was too much. Her hands were covered in burns and scars.

Not even her own tears could quench the pain.

“Mama, why won’t you save me!”

“I-i’m trying! The bars are too hot!”

“I don’t care! I don’t want to go back with her! She’ll kill me!”

“I know baby. Please, don’t cry-”

“WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME MAMA!?”

Marinette shot up screaming in guilt

But the aching in her body forced her down, yelping in pain

“JESUS FUCK” Alya exclaimed, nearly dropping a bucket of water on the floor “If you’re gonna get up from a coma, you could at least do it without scaring the piss outta me.”

Marinette looked down at her arms. They were bandaged all over with cuts and bruises. Looking over at the mirror hanging on her wall, she saw a hello kitty band-aid on right cheek and a fantastic four one on her left.

“Courtesy of the twins” Alya joked “They were so determined to help they just stuck them on when I wasn’t looking”

She stared up at the ceiling, pictures of Elly’s crying face flashing across her mind. “How did I get here? The last thing I remember is looking for Elly”

Alya nodded knowingly, wringing out a cool cloth and patting it all over Marinette’s forehead “Yea, you also remember the fight with Mère de la mort, don’t you?”

Marinette’s voice got caught in her throat as her eyes looked everywhere except into her best friend’s Hazel ones

“Whaaat I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She doged “I don’t know how I got these. Must’ve been from a pretty nasty fall hahaha” She laughed nervously

She could feel the unimpressed look she was getting seep into the back of her skull

She squeaked in pain as Alya pinched at some bandages wrapped snugly around her chest “If you’re gonna attempt to lie to me, please get a little better at it. For your own safety”

Marinette relaxed once the sharp pain in her side relaxed

“I ran out looking for Eloise shortly after you left, ended up stumbling across your fight with her ‘mother’ and helped Adrien take you home to get you patched up”

Her eyes softened, if she had known that Alya would be so accepting of her being Ladybug she would’ve told her long ago. Oh, who was she kidding? This was the girl that ran into potential danger just to help her. She should’ve told her forever ago.

...hold on

“You left the kids just to save me? Why the hell would you do that!?”

Alya’s eyes narrowed in annoyance “The fact that you think I left my kids alone, without their father watching them, makes me wanna pinch you again...please don’t make me do that”

She dropped that subject like a bag of hot rocks

Her mind started to wander though. ‘The fight was going so well’ she thought. She had La Mère on the ropes, Chat was handling her cronies…

Oh no! Chat!

“Hey Alya” She hummed in acknowledgement “When you took me home...was Chat Noir with me? I know he risked himself to save me...I just wanna make sure he’s ok”

She helped Mari sit upright and nodded over to the end of the bed “Why not ask him yourself”

Mari was thoroughly confused. All she saw was adrien, propped up against her wall, dead asleep and deeply scarred all over his bared chest

“Even injured he’s hot as fuck” she muttered to herself. She slapped her hands over her mouth “oh i’m sorry are the twins here”

Alya scoffed “If you think they’d be traumatized by that, you might wanna stop leaving Elly at our house”

“Wait,” Marinette stopped and thought for a moment “You said ask Chat Noir, but it’s only Adrien here”

Alya sucked in a breath “oooo my sweet, summer child.” She patted her cheek patronizingly “I’m gonna need you to think this one out”

But what was there to think out? Chat Noir saved her from the blast, Adrien brought her home. It was simple. No thought needed

Marinette scooted in a little closer for a better look. Hmmm. Blonde fluffy hair, golden tanned skin, fit but not beefy.

She got in even closer. They had the same strong but gentle hands, and even the same pouty lips

Their noses were basically touching now

“May I assist you with something my lady?”

‘Damn even the same green eyes’

“Not now kitty I’m trying to figure out why you and Adrien are so similar”

“Perhaps because we’re the same person”

“Hmmm maybe. But I’m not convinced”

“Well, while normally I’d swoon over this kind of intimacy, there one too many people here for anything interesting to happen”

“Oh please, don’t mind me in the least” Alya chimed in, the sound of a flashing camera ricocheting around the room

…….

Marinette suddenly became alarmingly aware of her position.

Making the cutest “Eep” sound he’s ever heard in his entire existence, she rushed quickly to the other side of the bed, shooting a sharp pain down her back.

She collapsed back onto her pillow, but not because of the back pain

But because the truth was becoming far worse than fiction

She hoisted herself up again, slowly this time, and faced facts

“You’re Chat Noir aren’t you”

“Yes ma’am”

“And you are fully aware that I’m Ladybug”

“Correct”

“And now the whole world knows who we are”

“Not true” Alya corrected

The heroine turned to her best friend with an upturned brow

“Currently only we, Nino, your parents, and the twins know”

She breathed a sigh of relief….

And then immediately buried her face in her hands, letting out a groan of disbelief

“So this means that all those nights I spent with you in my room, rattling off at the mouth about how much I liked this ‘big name model’ and how ‘oh he’ll never be into a girl as frumpy as me’ I was actually telling it all to…”

“Me, the big name model, yes”

The groan grew way louder

“If it’s any consolation I am still in love with ladybug, who just so happens to be another ‘frumpy girl’ that has a pretty comfy seat in my heart”

He was suddenly, once again, getting a very in depth look into her eyes

She couldn’t even feel the pain that time since the shock of potential returned feelings was enough for her

“Do you actually mean that!?”

He face flushed pink as he wasn’t quite ready to face this part yet. His eyes faced everywhere but her own to try and find an excuse out of this

Unfortunately he looked down though

He really shouldn’t have done that

Not even 8 inches away from his face was the skin of Marinette’s very creamy cleavage. He knows the bandages were there to help her heal. He KNEW that, that’s why HE had them! But they left just enough to the imagination to leave him wondering.

His mind was trailing off ‘Just one minor slip and they’d just fall away...’

The click of a camera brought him back to reality. He snatched up his white button up and shoved into her hands

She caught on a little too quickly for his tastes, scooted her way onto the far side of the bed and covered herself up with his shirt.

He scratched the hairs on the back of his neck and tried to lighten the mood “Well thank god Elly wasn’t here to see that. Don’t need her learning anything odd, ha ha ha”

Marinette whipped her head toward him, panicked

‘Did not lighten, I repeat, DID NOT LIGHTEN’

“Adrien...Where’s Eloise”

He bit his bottom lip and played with loose thread on the comforter

She fell back against the wall and fiddled with her ear to destress

“Where are my earrings!”

You could practically see Adrien shrink as transferred to twisting a ring that also wasn’t there

The tension was ungodly thick and the silence was putting both heros extremely on edge

They nearly jumped a foot in the air at alya giving a solid clap

“Well since you’re now both awake I’m gonna go check on the kids and bring back something for you two to eat”

She made it a point to look both of them in the eye

“It should only take ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF. I WILL BE BACK BY THEN”

“Thank you Alya. Could you bring the twins when you get back? I want to thank them for their help.”

Alya cut her eyes at her bestie. She knew it takes her at least 30 minutes to get those two anywhere.

She was buying time...a lot of it

“Mmmm, If they’re up at this time I’ll think about it” She left the room with her Hazel colored eyes being the last thing she made sure they saw.

Adrien flopped over on the bed, thinking he might’ve been safe from harm.

Who knows why he would ever think that

“You are not off the hook Adrien” He visibly flinched at the looseness in which she used his real name “Start talking. Fast.”

He rubbed his face vigorously to psych himself out. He sucked in a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever came next.

“We lost. Mère de la mort has Eloise and the Miraculous”

She felt like a knife was being dragged into her

“How?”

He pretended like he didn’t hear the question

She slammed her fist onto the nightstand and commanded his attention

“HOW DID SHE GET THEM?”

“BECAUSE I GAVE THEM TO HER OK!?” He blurted

He clammed up quick and got off the bed to go to the other side of the room

She couldn’t understand what he was telling her “Y-you did what?”

Adrien ran his fingers through his hair in frustration “I handed her the miraculous and she ran off with Eloise in tow”

Her voice was so small it was barely over a whisper “why would you ever hand over the only thing we had to protect our daughter”

He crossed his arms over his chest “Because the same things that protected her were the same things that were gonna get all of us killed, her included. I had to make a choice.”

“AND SO YOU MADE THAT CHOICE WITHOUT ME!?” She was so unbelievably pissed that if it weren’t for the tears running down her cheeks she was pretty sure she’d kill something, most likely him.

“What option did I have Marinette?!” He snapped back “You were fucking unconcious. I thought you were dead! We. Were. Beat. The only I could think to do that might’ve saved everyone was to just give her what she wanted”

The sound of thunder crashed outside

“And look where we are now huh?” she challenged “Left with no powers, no clue as to where they are, and so damn broken that these scars will probably last forever!”

They were in each others face now. Screaming and hollering about what would’ve been the right choice.

Marinette surprisingly broke first “Look i’m sorry ok!?”

Her heart wretched in every way as she had to face the horrid reality “I know you wanted to save her. Obviously, you’re her dad. But without ladybug, without those powers I. am. Nothing. I can’t save her. Shit, I can’t even save myself”

The sound of her sobbing was too much for him to bear. His heart just broke. He fell onto his knees before her and begged for forgiveness

“I am so sorry Mari. You were just right there. In my arms, silent, barely breathing. I couldn’t even think straight. And when I had to see Elly’s face just standing there, begging for me to make it all better. I broke. And I broke because I’m weak and now she’s gone-”

Marinette flew right into his arms. The force was so strong it toppled them right over onto the floor

“Don’t you ever say that” She sobbed “You have never been weak since the day I met you. Both sides of you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there I’m so so sorry for leaving you alone to make that decision”

Outside the rain was pouring down harder and harder. People were receding into their homes one by one with their loved ones happily in tow. But there were Marinette and Adrien, lying on her plush pink rug and crying their eyes out over the one they miss most.

“We suck as parents” Marinette hiccuped into Adrien’s chest

He rubbed her back soothingly and stared up at the ceiling “I know”

“Perhaps I can assist you in atoning for your ineptness”

There he stood. Hawkmoth, their most hated enemy, stood in her room with an umbrella in hand as if he just walked in from the rain on her balcony.

He smirked smugly as he thought he had caught them speechless

That smile was almost instantly pelted off his face from a stuffed Ladybug plushie (the bug not her)

“How did you find us!” She snarled

“Well if you mu-”

This time baby blue seal plush

“How do you know who we are!” Adrien growled

“I don’t think doing this wi-”

Now a strawberry cream puff toy

“I swear to god, you say anything stupid and I will start throwing sharper objects”

“I’ve seen her desk, she’s not kidding”

“I’d be happy to tell you if you’d just sto-”

They didn’t even bother letting him finish as they threw plushie after plushie and pillow after pillow at him.

He quickly got tired of that shtick and batting them away with the umbrella

“ALRIGHT NOW GOD DAMMIT, ENOUGH OF THIS!”

Marinette refused to face him “hah, you’re just lucky we ran out of things to throw”

“Yes, I am fortunate and you might be too if you just shut up and listen for a moment”

She had no interest in hearing what he had to say but then again Adrien was usually the more forgiving one out of the pair. He lifted himself off the floor and sat them both on her mattress, Marinette pressed flush against his chest and pouting.

“You have about an hour and a half to make your case. Her best friend is coming back and I can assure you, she’s not as nice as we are”

“Duly noted” he replied “Firstly, how I found you was simple. I was there at the fight”

Marinette clicked her tongue “Figures, you would be”

He suppressed a snarky comment coming forth as he continued “I saw your friend help you here and I followed you. Not the most elegant way to find out your arch enemies secret identity but there you go.”

He took a seat on Marinette’s swivel chair “As for why I am here…”

Hawkmoth, again, the same man that was at the second place of their shit list right now, then did something that made their heads spin

“I’m sorry” he said, eyes and head lowered “I did not intend for any of this to happen”

“Bullshit” Adrien harshly stated “She gave you what you wanted. What do you have to be remorseful about?”

“Yes, I did want your miraculous. I will not sit here and lie about that. However, I in no way expected her to use children as leverage. Besides, I still don’t even have your miraculous.”

Marinette watched his expressions closely “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t she just hand them over? Don’t you, like, have control of her mind or something?”

Hawkmoth sighed resentfully “Typically, yes, I do. But, since she willingly offered herself to be akumatized, there was no mind control present. We only worked together over a deal.”

“Which would be?”

“That as long as I get the miraculous she could obtain them however she saw fit. Had I known that she would resort to child kidnapping I would not have, under any circumstances, used her as an akuma”

“Oh yea because akumatizing children yourself is so much cleaner”

He had no answer for that so he held his tongue

“Just answer this.” She said “You said earlier that you would help us. What’s in it for you and how?”

He cleared his throat “What’s in it for me is simple, revenge. As I stated prior, she is holding the miraculous hostage from me so that she can reassure her comfy space in my lair. On top of that she is deliberately withholding her end of the bargain so at this point I’d rather get back at her than have the miraculous.”

“And as for the how” Adrien questioned

Hawkmoth chuckled smugly “If you can lure her out of hiding, I’ll give you your miraculous back. On top of that, I will personally hand deliver them and your daughter”

He just barely ducked a book aimed at his head

‘Tweety you so better be worth all this’ he fumed in his head

“La Mère told me that she was just gonna off Elly as soon as they got home. Why would she change her mind now?”

“Hell if I know! Probably to drag out the fun in terrorizing her. She twisted in the head in case you haven’t caught on”

Adrien, who had been fairly quiet during their back and forth, finally spoke up

“Fine, let’s say she changed her mind. Let’s say you can’t control her. And hell, let’s say you are sorry. What proof do you have that our daughter is alive?”

Hawkmoth straightened his posture and held a stoic expression. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a smartphone. Turning it on and entering a code, he handed it over.

The footage gave them hope, but not without its dread

It was live surveillance feed of his hideout. Noémie was, of course, drunk off her ass and smoking like a chimney.

But she wasn’t alone

Eloise was trapped high up in a golden like cage

‘like a pet canary’ Marinette mournfully reminded herself

Noémie looked positively sickening. She could barely keep herself upright as she downed another swig of vodka with no chaser. She lumbered up to the cage and banged the bottle against the bars.

“Why don’t you sing for mommy, El? Since you’re in that pretty little cage I made for you and everything”

Eloise didn’t say a word, she simply sat on the furthest corner of her prison.

Noémie banged louder, almost breaking the bottle into a million pieces

“Don’t fucking ignore me! I am your mother! You’re supposed to follow my every fucking word!”

Eloise tucked her head between her knees. She blocked out her mother’s hateful words by reminiscing about how much fun she’d had with her mama and papa, the real people who loved her.

“Why isn’t this working?” Noémie slurred, violently waving the clear bottle around and splashing Elly with the foul smelling liquid “You’re supposed to be on your knees, crying, and begging for me to let you go! So go ahead! Beg for your life so I can just burn it all down in front of you”

It was quiet for moment. It was the type of silence that Noémie had grown terribly accustomed to; the kind that felt like no one but her was in the room.

Eloise lifted her head. There were no puffy red eyes, no snotty nose, nothing.

All she did was smile

“I can’t cry yet, mommy.” She beamed “My papa said that I had to wait till he came for me. So until then I won’t cry a single tear!”

She was dumbstruck. What could she even say to that? She was too drunk to come up with any real threats so she settled with kicking the cage a few more times, staggering off to a closeby bed and passing out cold.

Eloise breathed a sigh of relief and let out a real smile. She picked up a piece of bar that had broken off and busied herself, drawing pictures on the floor and humming a silly tune

Marinette could hardly see past her teary eyes but she could feel Adrien’s smile against her back.

“That’s our girl” he hummed “Sunny since the day we brought her home”

He handed the phone back and faced hawkmoth with a very stern expression

“So you’re telling the truth. Congratulations.”

“Christ, it takes a lot to impress you teen parents”

“BUT, despite you even helping us we still have no powers. Even if we wanted to face her again, we’d have nothing to face her with”

He snorted rather mockingly “Paris’s finest heroes and you can’t even survive without your little spandex”

“Says the man in a purple butterfly suit” Marinette retorted

He turned away as adrien snickered at him

“Also, on the off chance that your monitoring skills are as weak as your fashion sense,-”

‘I am the forerunner of parisian fashion!’

“Every time I use my ace in the hole ‘Lucky Charm’ I get dumb stuff like this…”

She tossed the almost narrowly burned map from their fight onto her desk. He picked it up and looked it over.

“...a treasure map?”

“Yes a treasure…”

She snatched it out of his hand and opened it up big for a closer look

Red X marks were littered all over the map, 8 in total, all seeming to lead to some building circled all in red with dramatic arrows surrounding it.

Her eyes looked liked they were trying to burn a hole through the paper “I...I have no idea what this could possibly mean”

“They’re alleyways and hide-away hang out spots” Adrien casually noted, chewing on a twizzler “And that big red circle is where their building a new hotel”

“D-did you find my candy stash?”

“Yea, why?”

“Dammit Adrien, Alya’s bringing us food you’ll spoil your dinner”

“You say spoil, I say prepare”

Hawkmoth cleared his throat, calling back their attention

“And how do you know this, but she doesn’t”

Adrien bit off another piece of the red rope “Ever since Mari started missing patrol to take care of Elly, I’ve been using the alone time to hang out with the late night locals. They’re actually pretty fun”

‘So that’s why you’ve been exhausted during all your shoots’ hawkmoth grumbled to himself

“And the construction site?” Marinette inquired

“Oh I’ve just been using that place to ‘Hang around’.”

*Poof* black pawprint plush to the face, courtesy of hawkmoth

Marinette returned to the map to think

‘Even if I know all this, I still don’t know what to do with it! Ugh, this whole thing is insane! And on top of that, her mother is just treating it all like some sick game!”

…….

“A GAME!”

She jolted out of bed, accidentally knocking Adrien’s head back into the wall

She apologized and soothed his aching skull “Adrien you said all these little spots were in alleyways and hide-out bars right?”

“Yea?”

“What is now Elly’s favorite game?”

“Uuuuh hide and go seek?”

“Yes! And since this whole stupid endeavor is just one big game to her bitch of a mother, why not play for some real stakes”

Marinette cut her eyes at Hawkmoth and gave a look that translated to ‘You better not say one wrong thing out of your face’

“If we can get Mort de la Mère out of your hideout can you swear to uphold your end of the deal?”

“I am many terrible things ladybug. But I am nothing if not a man of my word”

“Um Mari” Adrien interjected “I’m all for...whatever this plan might be. But there’s a slight problem. We don’t have anything she wants. No booze, no high end cigarettes, nothing”

Marinette furrowed her brow. He had a point, she had her ultimate prize. So what would draw her out long enough to go along with the plan?

She got so lost in her thought that she hadn’t even noticed herself absentmindedly scratching along adrien’s scalp where his cat ears would be. She did it so often during their late night patrols that it became second nature to her.

He most definitely didn’t mind though as he took to his own habit. He laid himself out onto her lap and reveled in the satisfying sensation. He was, of course, her self proclaimed ‘pet’.

Now that they were finally at a moment of peace, Marinette took the time to give her partner a decent once over.

‘He really is quite the attractive kitty’ She thought, moving her hand to cover the back of his neck ‘Perfect skin, broad shoulders, and muscles in just the right places to make any female’s heart swoon’

She chuckled to herself ‘Any woman would kill to take him home with them’

He poked at her cheek “Uh princess? You’re most definitely staring again”

She blinked herself to reality and took instant notice to the flushed red tint that spread down to his aforementioned ‘broad shoulders’

She snatched her hands away as if he were made of fire

“IIIIIII am so sorry” she babbled out

“No no! It’s fine! it’s just-” he leaned in close to her ear “There’s still one too many people here for anything interesting to happen”

“I can hear you!”

He made a shooing motion with his hand “And that’s a problem right now.”

Marinette was utterly horrified. She must look like a complete creep!

She cracked open her fingers to sneak a peek at him. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was just sitting there crossed leg atop her comforter, a stupid grin plastered across his handsome face (you could practically see his tail happily swaying behind him)

She was gonna have to get used to the fact that her well mannered dreamboy was also her pun addicted partner

She felt a warm smile creeping onto her lips ‘Yea...anyone would want a cutie like him’

“Sooo any ideas what we could lure her out with?”

Marinette looked him up and down

And it came to her

She didn’t want it to, but it came to her

“Yea, I have an idea or two...you might not like it though”

Ok so this is basically my only shot of asking this since I missed the chance over on Ao3 BUT...WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ARGUMENT THEY HAD. Did you side more with Adrien in that he had no choice and had to make a decision or more with Marinette in that the miraculous was their only weapon against her. I so so SO would appreciate some feed back and THANKS AGAIN FOR READING!